Better Know a Producer #04: Seraph

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I promise this is the last Canadian P for now. #04 in our Better Know a Producer series, Seraph another Producer from the frigid north! It’s quite odd but you could say I’ve known Seraph the longest out of anyone in HPT. We both were on the Tales series online forums back in 2007 but we didn’t talk to each other much (remember I said Tales actually introduced me to im@s). 7 years later he would become discovered by the Canadian Ps and became more converted to im@s and that’s when I got to know him better. Life’s funny.

1. How did you first learn about “The iDOLM@STER”? What wereyour first impressions?

I was way into Photoshop and graphic design back in 2007, and one of the users in an official game forum (that very same aforementioned Tales forum) asked me to recreate the logo from the first game to use in his signature. After looking into the source material, it looked rather interesting to me but, since I couldn’t understand Japanese at all, I wasn’t about to start importing Japanese games on consoles I didn’t own… Still, it had made an impression on me and it’s probably the main reason I was so enthusiastic about the anime being announced back in 2010.

2. Have you played any of the idolm@ster games? Which is your favorite?

I’ve only played OFA from the main series, so I can’t really say which game is my favorite outside of that. But I am an active Cinderella Girls and Million Live player! I am not at leisure to disclose the expanses incurred in playing these mobage. I play ML more intensively, but I prefer the CG franchise as a whole since I’m more familiar with the characters and songs.

3. Which idol is your favorite and why?

My favorite idol is Hibiki. It’s hard for me to explain my reasons as to why she is, but I feel she is sort of a kindred spirit of mine. It’s strange since at first I prefered Miki (sketch that to my bias towards golden-haired cuties), but I’ve come to really appreciate Hibiki for who she is. Without pretension, she just does everything 100% and is always cheerful even through all of the bullying, haha! I really admire her determination and the gap between her personality and songs always stroke me as quite unique. My love of Hibiki turns out to be quite complex…

4. What is your favorite idolm@ster song and why?

It’s always been hard for me to select “my favorite X” and as anyone who’s watched an idolm@ster live with me can testify, I enjoy just about every idolm@ster song to a different degree. Recently though I’ve become really attached to Cinderella Girls songs. Susume Otome has probably become the song which tugs at my heart strings the most in the last few months because I link it very strongly to its live performance at the end of CG1stLive day 2 (if you’ve seen the live you’ll understand why right away). Other than that, I’ve come to really love Nageki no Fraction recently… Still, it’s hard for me to point to any single song! I appreciate every song for what they are.

5. What’s your favorite aspect of the idolm@ster series?

The theme of “growth” really resonates through the entire franchise. At first it was the 765Pro idols, then the seiyuu, and now that the “new generation” has taken up with Million Live and Cinderella Girls you can easily see each and every character and seiyuu grow into splendid women. I’ve not been into im@s for all that long compared to a lot of other Producers out there, but even after almost 10 years I feel that the franchise is going stronger than ever and is not anywhere near done. See you in 10 years for im@s 20th anniversary!

6. When and how did you become a “Producer”? That is, when did you consider yourself an idolm@ster fan?

I’ve been a fan of idolm@ster ever since the anime first started airing, but I wouldn’t have called myself a producer until much later. After watching the lives, that’s where I can safely say im@s enthralled me (rip wallet). Thanks to our resident Average MikiP Kurotsuki (and by proxy our resident kansaiben lover Karagea), I came to get really gripped by the franchise and it has since taken a hold of my life (and finances), for better or for worse.

7. Have you ever been to an idolm@ster live concert? Please share your experience or any particularly special memories if so.

I have not! I’m planning on going to 10th anniversary live. That is something that I simply cannot miss. After that I’m aiming for a CG live, but it’ll probably have to hold until CG4th. We’ll see what happens after that. At least with 10th I’ll get to see CG and ML live at the same time!

8. Do you play any of the mobile game series such as Cinderella Girls and Million Live?

I have sunk my fair share of money into idoling on the go, yes. I play both games quite a bit, although nowhere near the extent others in HPT are. But it’s hard to match people that reach the monthly spending cap in these games, haha!

9. Are you watching the Cinderella Girls anime? What are your thoughts?

Yes, I have been watching it diligently! While 765Pro is my first love, I have to say most of my attention has been turned towards Cinderella Girls for some time now. The anime has been amazing so far and every week I’m excited to see the episode! I wish some idols were featured as more than just cameos, but when you have 40+ voiced characters (among the 200+ currently in CG), I see how hard it can be. I’m quite happy having a healthy dose of Kirari and Ranko every week (and that Sanae, Shouko and Koume got their moment kyaaaaa)

10. Do you have any favorite seiyuu related to the idolm@ster series?

Numakura Manami, Uchida Maaya, Matsuzaki Rei, Shimoda Asami, Ootsubo Yuuka, Igarashi Hiromi! I also like quite a few others, but these are the ones I like most. As you can see, it’s heavily skewed towards CG, haha… Before being a P I had little interaction with the world of 2.5D, although I did have favorite seiyuu (Ootsubo Yuuka being one of them from before I was a producer). Being a producer and not following what the related seiyuu are doing is quite hard, and so here I am being slowly transformed into a DD thanks to HPT’s enabling.

11. Shout out your love about the idolm@ster series, say anything you’d like!

Producers are some of the awesomest people I’ve met/talked to, from all over the world. I’ve been at my happiest (and poorest) in years since I’ve started hanging out with them. Truly the world is all one (unity mind). アイマス最高!!

12. [From Vota] Can you briefly explain why you like Mayayan (Uchida Maaya) without lewding her?

You’ve pushed me into a real tiger’s pit there Vota my man…

Marei is sort of a special case for me, since I’ve come to like her and her character (Kanzaki Ranko) both at once and for differing reasons. She’s a very talented and charming person and, seeing as how pretty much all of HPT likes her, we can all see her appeal. She was hired very much as a newcomer into the seiyuu field and, although it wasn’t through her work in the idolm@ster franchise that she has gained her current popularity,  she has bloomed both on the stage and in my heart. She has very quickly climbed the ranks of my vaforite seiyuus to the podium and is likely to stay there for a while still. This week’s CG episode was all about Ranko, and I can safely say I was swallowed in her darkness.

Really, my liking of Marei has probably most to do with how HPT kept pushing her when I joined the group and their constant spam of pictures of her. Hard to resist such a seductive lady. HPT has also tremendously weakened my defenses towards Mocho (Asakura Momo), although they’ve yet to win me over the Amamiya Sora camp.  These guys are awfully efficient at enabling people, dammit.

13. Say something about the next interviewed person (Shinikenshi), also please ask them a question.

Ahh, Shini. Though we may tease him thoroughly within the group, he’s probably the most bro out of the bunch. Always ready to help a friend in need, he even went on a mad hunt for scarves during C87 for a bunch of Ps, most of which he’d never met, and suffered tremendously for the cause. I’ve yet to meet the old man myself, but when I do I’ll owe him a few drinks for being a good part of what makes HPT what it is today. I just hope there’s no basketball court near Seibu dome, or we’ll have to carry the ossan around during 10th weekend.

So my question to you, Shini, is: If you had to marry your daughters off to members of HPT, who would be the prime candidate and why?

 


 

 

You can follow Seraph on Twitter @sonoshiri

<Better Know A Producer>

#01 – [Exciel]
#02 – [Kurotsuki]
#03 – [vota]
#04 – [Seraph]←Here
#05 – [Shinikenshi]

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